


Our Home

by rosebowlkid



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-06 15:57:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14060403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosebowlkid/pseuds/rosebowlkid
Summary: Thomas ends up adopting his godchildren after their parents, old friends he barely talks to anymore, die.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this chapter is the shortest in the entire fic, so bear with me.

Even though Thomas was a heavy sleeper, the sound of his doorbell ringing woke him up faster than the speed of light. He jumped out of bed to greet the person on the other side of the door.

"Joan!" Thomas squeezed his best friend. "Talyn! What's going on?"

Thomas noticed that Joan and Talyn's eyes were both red and Joan kept sniffling as they tried to talk. "You just woke up, didn't you?"

"Maybe?" Thomas's giggly answer made Talyn rolled their eyes at him.

"Thomas it's 3 in the afternoon! I don't even sleep that late." They shook their head before continuing. "Anyway, we come bearing important news. Like, really important news."

"Yeah?" Thomas leaned against the doorway. "What's up?"

Joan and Talyn exchanged a look, one Thomas had seen a few times before. It meant something bad was happening, something he definitely wouldn't like. "Guys? Did something happen?"

Joan was the first to say anything else. "We should probably sit down.


	2. Chapter 2

Thomas had been laying on the couch all night. He couldn't shake what Joan and Talyn told him, no matter how hard he tried.

_"Dead?" Thomas's good mood from seeing his friends had dropped. "I talked to them yesterday."_

_Joan started tearing up again. "I know, I was talking to Alex just this morning. He said his wife, kids, and he were going to a theme park, Disney I think. I, uh, I got another call from him a little later and he couldn't talk. He was just breathing really heavy and--"_

_Joan broke down and Talyn had to hold them as they tried not to cry too. "Alex hung up, but we got another call a while later from the hospital later since we were the last people who he called and they told us. The kids are really messed up right now, but they're alive. Alex and Melissa though... they're going to be okay Thomas, they lived their best lives."_

_Thomas didn't realize he was crying until he looked at his pants, covered in small wet dots. Alex, one of his best friends in the entire world, was gone. Thomas didn't feel like crying yet, but he felt it coming. "Are the kids going to be okay?"_

_Talyn looked down. "They don't know, they said they were going to contact their legal guardian as soon as they figured it out."_

Thomas had already wept, already lashed out, already begged for his friend back. He felt spent. He didn't ever want to move again. He had known Alex for so long and they understood each other better than either of their respective significant others ever did. Thomas kept taking shaky breaths, trying to run this through his mind. He felt like years had been taken from his life like his own life was ending. Thomas sat up to check his phone and try to keep his mind off of it for a few minutes. He had many Twitter notifications and a lot from Instagram too. He took a deep breath and tried to look at a few things, but got more upset the more he looked. It's time for bed, Thomas thought to himself. It's been a horribly long day. The clock on his phone showed it was three a.m, not the latest he'd gone to bed, but he should've definitely been in bed early.

Thomas was walking up the stairs when he got a call from a California. Alex. He had moved there when Melissa and him got serious and they had lived there until yesterday of course. Thomas picked up immediately. "Hello?"

"Hello, this is Social Services," A female-sounding voice answered from the side. "I'd like to speak to Mr. Thomas Sanders?"

"This would be him." Thomas's brow furrowed. What could this be about?

"I regret to inform you that Alex Christophy has died in a car crash, along with his wife, Melissa Christophy." Thomas felt tears well up again as the doctor told him.

"Yes, I know," Thomas took a shaky breath. "I've already been informed of this much."

"Oh, well then, I suspect you already know their children, Logan, Patton, Roman, and Virgil Christophy have survived," Thomas made an affirmative noise and let the doctor continue. "They're currently doing physically well, but, as expected, they will probably be mentally traumatized for a very long time. While I'm sure this is a lot to digest there is something else I need to talk to you about."

Thomas sighed. "I doubt it could make this day any better or worse. I've kinda been in what seems to be an eternal funk since I found out."

"I'd imagine, sir." The doctor took a pause, saying something inaudible to someone else. When she returned she sighed deeply. "Mr. Sanders, you were pronounced their godparent if anything happened to their parents, which, unfortunately, did. I've called to inform you are that the current legal guardian for the boys, along with their godmother, Valerie Torres-Rosario."

"Excuse me?" Thomas felt his breathing get heavier. "Ma'am, I was there when they were born and I didn't even know they were baptized at birth. How was I not informed of this before?"

Thomas heard the doctor flip through some files. "Well, the files say that the triplets -- Logan, Patton, and Roman -- were baptized closer to one-year-old than their birth, which may be why you were unaware. Virgil seemed to be baptized much closer to his birth, but it was still over a month later."

Thomas felt like he didn't know anything anymore. He was a nearly-thirty-year-old gay man who, up until this point, didn't have a reason to have a kid. No boyfriend or husband, no unfilled want in his life. He figured that once he was married or in a serious relationship that, sure, kids would be great. And he loved Valerie, she was one of his best friends, but he didn't think he would be raising four kids with her.

"Mr. Sanders?" The doctor said. "Are you still there?"

"Oh, yes, yes of course," He blinked and sat down on the steps. "Just... shocked, that's all. And, please just call me Thomas, Mr. Sanders seems way too formal and professional."

"Well, this is a very professional matter," She sighed. "I suppose Thomas will do. Anyhow, I also must inform also you that there will be court dates, of course, and a meeting with Ms. Torres-Rosario about the schedule. It'd be preferred that you come to California to pick up the children rather than making them fly alone. Ms. Torres-Rosario will also be requested to fly out, so if you could, sitting together would be optimal."

"Alright." Thomas took a deep breath. "Thank you...?"

"Emile. Ms. Emile Boudin for Anaheim Social Services" She seemed to take the title with pride, sounding as if she'd practiced it time and time before. "If you have any other questions, you can always call this number and ask to speak with me."

"Thank you, Emile, I will keep that mind," Thomas spoke very softly, but made sure that his gratitude did shine through. "Good, uh, night? Is it nighttime there?"

Emile chuckled. "Early morning, but it's close enough."

"Alright, well, good early morning then, Emile. I'll see you-" Thomas suddenly realized he really hadn't thought this through. "Uhm, eventually."

"I'll see you then. Good early morning Mr. Sanders." She hung up and Thomas was left on his steps to think about what he could possibly do.


	3. Chapter 3

Thomas got into his car after visiting a bakery with Valerie. They wanted to make sure they met once before they flew out to California to formally adopt the boys. Before pulling out of the parking lot, Thomas checked his wallet for all the photographs he kept there. There were group pictures of his friends and family, specific moments that changed his life, and photos of his friends' families. It was in this section he found his two favorite photos. The first was him, struggling to hold three babies at once, each with a different colored blanket, red, a deep blue, and a lighter gray. The second was him holding a different baby, surrounded by three very young children staring up at him. The baby was wrapped in a purple blanket and was reaching for Thomas's face. Thomas smiled and sighed. He decided to move these pictures to the front of his pictures, these kids were going to be his responsibility soon.

After taking a deep breath, Thomas started to drive home, playing his November Spotify Playlist. It was one that usually calmed his anxieties and let him think for a while and he definitely needed something to calm him down. He couldn't stop thinking about the boys. He remembered seeing them just last summer and how happy they were, how completely carefree they were. He couldn't imagine what this loss had done to them.

"Oh," As Thomas turned into his driveway, he noticed four cars were already parked there. "What...?"

Even as he Thomas got out of the car, he could hear voices from outside. "Uh, hello?"

He opened the door to Joan, Talyn, Dahlia, Terrence, Jamahl, Leo, and Derionna lounging in his living room. Joan perked up at the sight of Thomas. "Oh, hey! We had filming scheduled today. You didn't text us that it was canceled, so we've been waiting here for the past half an hour."

"Filming? Oh! Ah, sorry, I've just kinda been stressed about being a dad." Everyone but Joan and Talyn turned to him with confusion and shock. "Right, I haven't been able to tell you guys. Well, uh, I found out last night that I'm Alex's kids' godfather. That's why I've been kind of MIA, I've been a mess in general but that just added on. I just don't know how to feel about anything anymore."

"Oh! Okay," Terrence sighed in relief. "I just thought you impregnated someone for a second and I didn't think you were requestioning your sexuality."

The group shared a small moment of laughter before Thomas stopped in his tracks. "I just remembered! I needed to call the social security people before it gets late for them so I could try to talk to the boys. I'll be downstairs right after though, it'll only be a minute."

They wished him farewells before Thomas closed himself in his room, calling Emile in the process.

"Mr. Sand- Thomas, how are you?" She sounded completely exasperated.

Thomas let out a breathy laugh. "Considering the circumstances, I'm doing okay. How are you? You seem pretty tired."

"Thomas, my job is the definition of tired in the dictionary." Emile sighed before returning to her professional manner. "So, is there a specific reason for your call?"

"Uh, yes actually! I was wondering if I could talk to the boys for a minute, just because I haven't seen them in a while and I wanted to make sure they remembered me. Plus I've been thinking about them all day and I don't know what to do and also just to actually try to be an okay parent." Thomas took a huge breath after his short little monologue.

"Woah, slow your roll," Emile laughed. "The kids have been resting all day, they're still injured from the accident, so it's a no today, but I could probably set up a Skype call sometime tomorrow."

Thomas couldn't stop his excitement from shining through. "Really?!"

"Mhmm." She hummed. "Patton's actually been excited to see you. Well, they've all been pretty supportive, but Patton seemed the most enthusiastic. To see you. They're all a bit nervous about living with you."

"A mutual feeling. I'm incredibly terrified and I have no idea how to be a parent. But I've been trying to find classes and I'm going to talk to my parents about it and just absorb as much information as I possibly can to get to the point where I am the readiest I can be for this," Despite the positive attitude, Thomas let out a remorseful sigh. "I just don't know if 'the readiest I can be' is ready enough."

For a second, he thought Emile had hung up on him, though his suspicions were soon proven false when her voice resurfaced. "Sir, no one is ever ready enough for parenting. You can't prepare for ever situation that parenting will place upon you and you definitely can't do that with four children. If you really want to educate yourself on parenting techniques, you work on YouTube, you have an incredibly helpful resource at your fingertips, use it. And calling your own parents may help a little, but none of it will make you a perfect parent. Nobody is a perfect parent, but getting close comes with time, practice and discipline. So just be supportive and do your best, Thomas, that is the best advice I can give."

The line went dead and Thomas was left staring at the phone. He had no idea what he was going to do.


End file.
